Perception is Reality
"Everyone in the lab goes to break at once," a nurse manager once told me, "and the lab turnaround time goes to pot." Apparently, she had seen the laboratory staff walk by on their breaks.
A complaint presented as a conclusion is already proven in the mind of the offended. Perception is reality. But is it accurate?
To decide this, I considered sources of information that might support or disprove a perception: physician complaints (I'd heard none), staff complaints (I'd heard none from mine), and the data itself.
Data is accurate. The laboratory banks on it. But is it perception?
A database run showed no significant difference in turnaround time during breaks or lunches. This didn't surprise me. But what did was the nurse manager's reaction to my conclusion. She wouldn't change her story. The problem, she insisted, stemmed from all the lab techs leaving the lab unattended. And when an internal customer service survey was conducted a few years later, her complaint resurfaced. No evidence was ever given.
Her complaint was, of course, irrational. There was no measurable "problem," and the laboratory was never left unattended. But nutty ideas are surprisingly persistent. How many of us avoid walking under ladders, knock wood, or read our horoscope? Irrational views wouldn't be irrational if they just went away sensibly.
Creating a positive, responsive perception is one approach. It means giving up our natural tendency to present our own conclusions after analyzing data. Instead, raw numbers can be published in a newsletter or posted on a bulletin board to let everyone see for themselves. This helps create a positive "groupthink" that can overwhelm an individual opinion.
If that doesn't work, try a different route when going on break, borrowing another adage: out of sight, out of mind.